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Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi
Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi is a French-British children's animated television series co-produced by Cartoonverse Television, Sega Television, Sega Europe, Puffy AmiYumi Films and Puyo Puyo Television and distributed by Sony Pictures Television in North America and both Sony Pictures Television International and Cartoonverse Television International in overseas countries for BBC, Chellomedia, MTV Networks Latin America, MTV Networks Europe and NHK. Created by Catherine Cavadini and developed by Christian Riehl and Audu Paden, the series was originally considered to be the upcoming Cartoon Network original series, but in December 2001, it was revamped as the Cartoonverse Television's children's animated television series under the Cartoonverse Children's Television Workshop, and is now the media franchise co-owned by Puffy Enterprises and Freegate, Ltd. in association with Cartoonverse Worldwide. The show aired in over 60 countries and translated into 20 languages as of September 14, 2014. The series debuted on September 13, 2004 and ended its career on May 25, 2007, which consists of two seasons of 26 episodes. The series ceased to exist on December 31, 2017. The series was made available on the streaming Cartoonverse Universe channel app from 2015 to 2017. Plot Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi ''follows the adventures of two iconic pop star twin sisters: Yumi Yoshimura (Grey DeLisle), a cynical, sarcastic, rough and tough punk rocker; and her twin sister Ami Onuki (Janice Kawaye), a peppy, optimistic and cute schoolgirl. Both are based off the real Japanese pop duo Puffy AmiYumi, but with different appearances and exaggerated personalities. They travel around the world on their customized tour bus along with their well-intentioned yet greedy manager Kaz Harada (Keone Young). From rocking out at a concert to hanging out in their hometown of Tokyo, the duo take the world by storm with their musical talent, trend-setting style, and humor, dishing out lessons in J-pop justice and establishing the international language of "cool" along the way. Secondary characters include: Jang-Keng (Grey DeLisle) and Tekirai (Janice Kawaye), the duo's pet cats who enjoy tormenting Kaz; Harmony (Sandy Fox), a six-year-old girl who is the self-proclaimed "Number One Fan" of Puffy AmiYumi and (later) Kaz and constantly stalks them; Eldwin Blair (Nathan Carlson), a sinister land developer who tries to tear down beloved places for his own selfish needs; King Chad (Katie Leigh), a selfish "bad boy" who is a master of the card game ''Stu-Pi-Doh! (a parody of Yu-Gi-Oh!); the evil Talent Suckers (Nathan Carlson; Corey Burton), a vampire rock trio from Transylvania; and Atchan (Rob Paulsen), a caricature of Vo Atsushi (lead singer of the pop band New Rote'ka) who speaks in third-person and thinks he is a superhero. The animated Puffy AmiYumi travel all over the world in their tour bus. While appearing the same size as a regular bus on the outside, it appears to have enough internal space to house the girls' rooms (including full-sized beds), Kaz's room, their equipment, televisions, and computers, among other things. In the episode "Domo", Kaz refers to an upstairs area. It also seems capable of running on autopilot, as Kaz, Ami, and Yumi are sometimes sitting in the rear cabin of the bus while traveling. Occasionally, the rear door has been opened to receive packages delivered by a boy on a scooter. During the first season, the show included live-action clips of the real Ami and Yumi making childish commentary (in English and non-subtitled Japanese) at the beginning and end of each episode. They only performed short clips at the beginning of the show during the second and third seasons. Starting with the second season, the duo was sometimes shown holding title cards introducing the cartoon segments. At the end of the episode "Sitcomi Yumi", Ami and Yumi watched television and saw the animated Kaz with the real Ami and Yumi. All of the live-action clips were produced by Freegate, Ltd. The real PUFFY performs the cartoon's theme song (which is also in Japanese, German, Spanish, and Portuguese in the respective regions), and many episodes feature one or more of the duo's songs playing in the background, along with music by Andy Sturmer. Though the characters speak English, the script intersperses their vernacular with Japanese speech, especially when the characters react to events that they find to be surprising. Calling out "Tasukete!" instead of "Help!" is commonly used. Characters Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi depicts characters with the same name and profession as the actual PUFFY members but with different appearances and exaggerated personalities. Main characters * [[Ami Onuki|'Ami Onuki']] (Voiced By Janice Kawaye) is one of the only two main protagonists of the series. It depicted as a peppy, optimistic, and cute girl with hot pink colored hair and eyes. She favors bubblegum pop and wears a 1960's go-go dress, also sporting a flower in her hair and white knee-high go-go boots. As the optimist, Ami always looks on the bright side of things and finds a solution to every situation. Her main signature color is pink. He and Yumi are worked together to have adventures, following being the each other's suddenly best friend or twin sister. Ami is Yumi's best friend, and sometimes twin sister. * [[Yumi Yoshimura|'Yumi Yoshimura']] (Voiced By: Grey DeLisle) is one of the only two main protagonists of the series. It depicted as a cynical, sarcastic punk rocker with purple hair and blue eyes. She dresses in a heavy metal/grunge/goth style with studded necklaces and bracelets, a light purple T-shirt with a skull that has the same facial expressions as she does, a black miniskirt, purple bike shorts, and black army boots. Her main signature color is purple. He and Ami are also worked together to have adventures. Yumi is Ami's best friend and sometimes twin sister. Secondary characters * [[Kaz Harada|'Kaz Harada']] (Voiced By: Keone Young) is the duo's well-intentioned yet money-grubbing manager, whose successes are usually balanced out by his foolish decisions. He is also a huge fan of sumo wrestling, as seen in the episodes "Spree" and "Sumo Kaz". * Jang-Keng (Voiced by: Grey DeLisle), and Tekirai (Voiced By: Janice Kawaye) are Yumi's and Ami's pet cats, respectively. Jang Keng (sometimes called "Jengo", or Jang for short) is a black cat and Tekirai ("Teki" for short) is a fluffy white cat. The girls adore their cats, but Kaz is a constant victim of their mischief. * Harmony (Voiced by: Sandy Fox), is the self-proclaimed "Number One Fan" of the girls and of Kaz by the end of the episode "Dis-Harmony". She is a six-year-old psycho girl who is so obsessed with the duo that she follows them around the world and finding it almost impossible to think of other things, annoying Ami and Yumi to no end. At the end of her first appearance, she becomes obsessed with Kaz's singing and this becomes a running gag, appearing from nowhere and telling Kaz she is his #1 fan. * Eldwin Blair (Voiced by: Nathan Carlson) is a sinister land developer, and the antagonist in the two episodes in which he appears. He usually tries to tear down beloved places for his own selfish needs. * King Chad (Voiced by: Katie Leigh) is "a bad boy super hunk", as once described by Ami and Yumi. The girls once had a crush on him but after fighting over him with Ami winning they both found out that he thinks highly of himself and cares only for his obsession a card game called Stu-Pi-Doh! (a parody of Yu-Gi-Oh!). In "Janice Jealous", he had a girlfriend named Janice (based on Janice Kawaye, Ami's voice actress) who shared his interests in video games, yo-yo tricks, and comics. King Chad wears a fur-lined cape and gold crown, and sits on an adorned throne. * Wall is a hulking yet slow-witted man hired by Kaz as the girls' bodyguard. He is overprotective, pummeling anyone with whom Ami and Yumi attempt to make contact. Kaz later hired him as a bouncer for a party he was throwing and, more recently, Ami had him try being a roadie. He is voiced by Will Ryan. * Domo is Kaz's dog. He looks much like his owner, even sharing a similar style of glasses (Kaz is the only one who does not see the resemblance). Like Kaz, he is constantly in conflict with the cats, especially since he enjoys eating their food. Domo is also voiced by Keone Young. * The Talent Suckers are a vampire rock trio from Transylvania who first appeared in the eponymous episode, "sucking" Ami and Yumi's talent from them. They returned in two other episodes. The straight man of the trio is Vlad (Nathan Carlson), a tall vampire who speaks with a Transylvanian accent. The second band member is a short vampire, Nicolai (Corey Burton), who is easily made nervous. (A running gag has Vlad slapping Nicolai back to his senses.) The third Talent Sucker is Mitch (also voiced by Nathan Carlson), a vampire who does not talk, but instead grunts and groans. * Atchan is a character Ami and Yumi met at Camp Youwannasushi. He thinks he is a superhero. He is based on Vo Atsushi, the lead singer of the pop band New Rote'ka. In fact, Vo Atsushi actually appeared in a live-action segment dressed up as Atchan in the series finale. Atchan always refers himself in the third person. Before becoming a superhero, Atchan's face resembles Mac from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. After he declares himself a hero, his looks change to look more like Kamen Rider's. He has a painted star over his right eye resembling that of Kiss guitarist Paul Stanley. His costume seems to be based on his manga idol, Mungbean Man as shown in Secret Origins. He is voiced by Rob Paulsen. * Julie is Yumi's friend in the episode "Julie AmiYumi", which was not aired in the United States. She is a former band member whose signature color is green. She plays a keyboard guitar. She treats Yumi kindly, but is always mean to Ami. In the episode, she tries to take out Ami and Yumi as revenge for their stealing the stardom which she believed to be rightfully hers. She could not remember Ami's name and thus called her Arthur. At the end of the episode, she is standing in the rain, still swearing revenge, giving the show a cliffhanger. Julie wears her hair is a green messy ponytail. Her signature outfit consists of a white shirt, black jacket, blue jeans, and high black boots. She is voiced by Lara Jill Miller. * Farmer Zeke is Ami and Yumi's friend who owns a farm. Edwin Blair, the land developer, tried to take his failing farm, Happy Acres, and turn it into a parking lot, but Ami, Yumi, and Kaz come to Zeke's aid and play music to help the farm prosper again. Zeke wears brown boots, overalls, a white shirt, and a red baseball cap. Voiced by Will Ryan. Episodes Development & Production Sam Register originally pitched the idea of Puffy AmiYumi having their own television series on Cartoon Network and afterwards Renegade Animation developed a test short on April 22, 2003 in hopes of making the channel greenlight the show's production. However, all of that changed In December 2001, when Cartoonverse Television and Sega Television purchased the original production of Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi from Cartoon Network and Sam Register, and from 2002, in association with Sony Pictures Animation, transferred it entirely to an exclusive international television channel in which Puyo Puyo Television co-produced it. Sony Pictures Television has also partnered with the acquisition of global production and merchandising, while Sega Television co-funds the program in association with Sega Europe. Later in January 2003, Sega stated that there would be 26 22-minute episodes consisting of two segments of 11 minutes each. In June 2003, Sony Pictures Television announced its distribution in North America, while its Sony Pictures Television International division would distribute it in international territories, alongside Puyo Puyo Television's another series, Accord Possible. In 2004, the new series, co-produced by Sega Television, Sega Europe, Puffy AmiYumi Films and Puyo Puyo Television, debuted as Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, whose international broadcast rights have been managed by BBC, Chellomedia, MTV Networks Latin America and Europe and NHK. Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi is broadcast in more than 60 countries and translated into 20 different languages. The spin-offs, including Ami the Explorer, Ami's World and The Adventures of Julie and Yumi, were launched in the 2000s See also * Puyo Puyo * The Tetra Show * The Universe Stops with You * The Adventures of Julie & Yumi * Ami the Explorer * Ami's World Category:British adventure television series Category:British children's animated television programmes Category:British fantasy television series Category:French children's animated action television series Category:French-language television programs Category:French children's animated adventure television series Category:French flash animated television series Category:Cartoonverse Television shows Category:Sega television series Category:Sony Pictures Television International shows Category:Sony Pictures Television shows Category:Nickelodeon Europe shows Category:Minimax shows Category:France 3 shows Category:Canal J shows Category:Clan TVE shows Category:Canal Panda shows Category:Nickelodeon Germany shows Category:Nickelodeon Australia shows Category:Nickelodeon Portugal shows Category:RTÉ Television shows Category:CBBC shows Category:NHK shows Category:NHK Educational TV shows Category:Nickelodeon shows Category:Friki shows Category:Animated duos Category:Fictional trios